Hidden Between the Lines
by DreamAlex
Summary: Two kids thought they were normal. When they came to Gravity Falls, they expected nothing much. Secrets will unfold, as both Amber and Dipper try to figure out the lies they were told their whole lives, and who they should be trusting or not - after all, who do you trust more? Your friends? Or your family? And who is that girl that keeps following them around ?
1. Chapter 1

**Amber's POV**

Seven years. It had been seven years since I had gotten adopted and went home with Dipper. Seven years of being the quirky family we were. I smiled at the memory running through my head, letting it slowly continue. I was packing up all my books… all of my little stuffed animals scattered across the bed. Checking and double checking that I had them all… to make sure I left nothing that I deemed important behind in my little room.

I flinched as our car hit a rocky bump, snapping me right out of the memory. I looked over to Dipper, seeing him resting his head on the window sill as he re-read a book, a favorite of ours - The Blood of Olympus. I groaned, and shook my head, trying to recall the memory clearly. I was just dreaming… and it had suddenly come to me in all of it's former glory. Too bad I couldn't remember half of it now that I was back in the waking world.

I thought to myself, sighing as I looked out the window, toward the dark mass of pine trees that we were speeding past. Nothing interesting in sight. The car gently hit another bump in the road, and I sat up straighter, more alert before I face-palmed. We were never going to get any sleep if Dad kept driving all night, making the moving car behind us trail simply behind us.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we were moving to a whole new town that me and my brother had never even stepped foot in.

"Dad?" I called softly to the front of the car. No answer. "Dad?" I said, a bit louder this time as I leaned forward against my seatbelt. Still, no response. Frowning, I moved my head to try to peer over the seat at the dashboard mirror. What I saw made me let out a tiny gasp in surprise. "Dad!"

No wonder we kept hitting things - Dad's eyes were both narrowed, almost closed, as if he was focusing on something else entirely.. I hadn't even noticed that we were almost swerving to the lane next to us. Thank goodness that the road had been completely empty except for our singular car. How we had managed not to crash the car, I had no clue. It was crazy dangerous - at least that's what I thought at the time. I knew the dangers way too well.

"Dad… dad… dad?" I said, trying to keep my voice calm - so I wouldn't start losing it there and then. While I knew my Dad could be irresponsible at times (that was an understatement), he was supposed to know I hated this - anything that does not follow the safety of the rules of the rode. Though my voice did rise to an octave I didn't even know I had the muster to use. Despite my best efforts, I was getting worked up, my hands grasping the door handle tightly to keep a handle on my emotions.

"Wha-" The car got back into the middle of the lane as Dad noticed what exactly was going on here.. I flinched, pressing my back against the seat, teeth clenched. My fingers looked to claw anything that was in reach - sadly, that was my now empty water bottle, which quickly got crushed.

"Amber, are you alright?" Dipper. God, when he got caught up in a book, he got caught up. I was surprised he hadn't noticed the car start to swerve. He was usually the observant one. I would have scoffed at him, but right then… I was scared. Really, really scared. Terrified, even. Not something that was one of my favorite things to be. I noticed he had a worried look, though at that point, it did little to the comfort the terror racing through my body.

"D-Dad," I said, though my clenched teeth.

"C-Can we please stop at a motel or something? I don't think we're going to live through the night if we keep this up." I murmured the last part, closing my eyes tightly. To shut out the images of what could have happened. Just to shut them out. My stomach swirled unsteadily at the thoughts of what-ifs.

"Come on, Amber, it's fine." Dad stated casually, though that did nothing to stop my heavy breathing. "You got to stop worrying so much! This is supposed to be fun!" Dad smirked as he looked through the dashboard mirror, and but then his bright eyes met my own dark. And that was when he realized he had went too far. For a moment, Dad was silent, before he finally replied to me. "Fine- we'll stop at the next motel we see. That good for you two?"

I gave a slight nod before I slowly released the armrest of my unrelenting grip and leaned back in my seat as my heartbeat started to return to normal. My stomach however, was still unsteady, so I closed my eyes as I lay my head upon the head-rest. "S-Sorry that I had a panic-attack there…" I muttered, shaking my head. I couldn't even recall the last time I had been that fearful of something. If I had been, it had only been from the possible scary things that I read in my books.

"Hey, it happens to the best of us," Dipper said as he gave me a half-smile, before he cracked open his novel again, nose drive in the book again. Shifting uncomfortably, I lean against the headrest, turning my eyes onto the moon-lit empty road again. To daydream. And to make sure we don't accidentally swerve again.

So, I suppose you noticed we weren't the most normal family. Well, wouldn't that be a bit boring if we were just like any other family out there? At least that's what my Dad used to told me. And I took it to heart. So, I didn't have a mom. So, I was kind of a nerd. So my dad always wore things that most people would ridicule him for, and he was a bit of a psycho at times.. So what, I had thought?

Sure, it was a bit hard for me to get used to the idea of not having a Mom. But that didn't mean I couldn't try to get him to date, even against Dipper's better warning.s. Or having a dad who always complained the history books were wrong, and how it 'really' must have happened. That was a bit weird too get used too, also. But he was my Dad - I couldn't judge him for that.

Dipper and me met each other when we were adopted - we didn't go to the same orphanage, so it was a bit strange to see each other around all the time at first. For the first few days, it worked out after the adoption. After all, we both had the experience of not knowing our real parents that well. But he also took better to me at first before I too to him. He, for almost his whole life, had already been in the orphanage - no one was sure what happened to his parents, but he was only about one when he was found.

For me… not so much. I had been lucky… in a sense, anyways. I was put into the orphanage only about a year before Dad adopted me and Dipper. I was an only child before that. I was not used to sharing. I tried to make friends, but I guess my enthusiasm scared them away. Anyone who was actually my 'friend' seemed to only wanted to use me. I was pretty naive back then - that was something living with Dipper and Dad easily beat out of me later in life. And everyone wanted to look and touch my things back at the orphanage. That was something I hated about the orphanage. The caretakers always used to encourage us to share our books, our stuffed animals, everything pretty much since so much of us had lost so much.

I have to admit I was not a sharer though. At all. Whenever someone asked to play with my stuffed animals, I said no - and I wasn't always that polite about it. The caretakers often encouraged me to share, but I resolutely refused. My stuffed animals and my books were one of the few things they had been able to let me keep. I was not about to let it go. Some things that other kids shared never got given back - I couldn't let that happen. Kids eventually began to ignore me due to that bad habit of mine. And I ignored them, choosing to read the books my parents - my real parents, mind you - used to read to me before they died. It comforted me in a way.

So, back to the point. Not too long after our first week together as official siblings, I suppose Dipper began to notice that I always read aloud my books. So, he decided to ask me if he could read one of my books. At first, I was horrified. I thought that had all ended when I left the orphanage. I soon had put all my things back in my trunk, to try to hide them from Dipper. God, it is a bit embarrassing the lengths I went back then to protect my belongings.

Soon though, Dad noticed that I wasn't talking to Dipper. For a whole two days that had went on - and, I know, I know. Two days does not sound like a long time, right? Well, for kids, it is. Especially when you live under the same roof. Soon, Dad was pushing me to talk to Dipper. Reluctantly, I did. And was delighted when I did. Dipper offered to lend me one of his books if I lended him one of mine. And that's how we really started our friendship. From books.

Not exactly how most people would do it, but hey, I did tell you we weren't normal.

"Here's one!" Dad's voice shook me from my thoughts, and I let out a small yawn. I had been drifting off right there and then, so I was glad we finally found one. It must have taken twenty miles at the least to find a motel finally.

Slowly, we pulled over into the desolate parking lot, empty except for a grand total of three cars besides our own. Well, at least we'd probably have the pick of the best room. Probably. Hopefully.

"Where's the truck? Last time I looked it was behind us." I said, frowning as looked out the window. Had I really been out that long?

"They're probably going to meet us tomorrow at Gravity Falls tomorrow. Don't worry about it.. Soon we'll be unpacking all our stuff at our new home." Dad said, waving his hand in the air to dismiss it.

New home. I felt my heart sink a bit. Dad just had to remind me, yet unintentionally. Of us moving all the way from California to Dad's hometown - a boring town named Gravity Falls. When Dad had first told us that we were going to be visiting Dad's hometown, I was intrigued to see a new place - the place where Dad had grown up. Until he told us the details. Then, you could say I was less thrilled.

That had been whole month before - I had calmed down my anger at Dad from then. Even though I was still ticked, he didn't let me and Dipper have a stay in it. Thank goodness it was the beginning of summer. And not to mention, we were going to be freshmen when we entered school. It would have been a literal nightmare to come in the middle of eighth grade - Dad had said he had planned for us to move earlier, though he held out for us. That didn't excuse this in my opinion. But Dipper had pointed out I couldn't stay mad at Dad forever - though I countered by saying I could be annoyed by him forever. And with the car incident, Dad was going nowhere from the current position he held in my mind.

But still, I had to miss my friends. While we were almost all going to different high schools, we had promised to visit each other often. How could I do that now that I lived a whole state away from them all. Not to mention I had gotten accepted into a good high school. But Dad had convinced me Gravity Falls had one of the best high schools in Oregon - I still was going to doubt that fact until I came face-to-face with it anyway. It had been on the list of best - but so was a few other ones I considered dumpy.

I had hoped to get there tonight, so I could start getting acquainted in wherever I was sleeping - I had never been the greatest person to try to sleep somewhere outside my own room - but that wish apparently wasn't meant to come true when Dad had turned off the highway. And now here we were, at an hotel with a rating of who knew what. It was better than driving, though. My stomach still swirled unsteadily, so as soon a we got out, I was going straight to the bathroom.

Sighing, I unbuckled myself, opened the door, and jumped out of the car, before slamming the door shut behind me. As Dad opened the back door of the car, I asked Dad casually, hiding the undertone of my annoyance beneath the slight pleading I mustered up in my voice. "Can we read for a while, before going to bed?'

"Don't blame me if you're dead in the morning," Dad simply said, as he gave me his usual smirk. That was Dad's style of responsibility - let us do what we want, at least before we cross a certain line, and let us take the consequences. Sometimes, this didn't work. But usually, surprisingly, it did for him. Staying up at four am reading and getting up at seven am was something I did one time. That was just one of his various life lessons.

"'Kay," I said casually once more, grinning before I heaved my suitcase out of the trunk.. Most of my books were still in the moving truck, but I was sure I packed one or two in there with me. It would keep me busy, at any rate.

As Dipper grabbed his own suitcase, I quickly extended the handle, and began walking toward the hotel door. "Come on slow-pokes!' I teased lightly, as I reached the doors, and turned around, seeing Dad struggle to close the backdoor.

"Yeah, yeah laugh all you want Amber... " Dipper said as he stopped beside me, raising an eyebrow at me. I pushed over the swinging doors to the small motel, holding it open for Dipper and Dad.

As Dad moved to check us in at the desk. So far… I was simply not impressed. Honestly, it was just another one of those 'Ma' and 'Pa' motels you see around California - except this one was on the road to Gravity Falls in Oregon. Figures. But whatever, while it might not he have been a four star hotel, it could have been worse - hopefully. I still preferred it to driving out on the road right now.

"So… what do you think of it?" I asked, turning my head to incline my head towards Dipper. He had been unusually quiet, even for him. Usually, we always talked about everything - probably because we shared most of the same interests. But on the car ride from California, it had been… weird, unnatural conversations. Like we were just awkward friends instead of close siblings. Maybe it was because we both had differing opinions about the move.

"Moving? The fact that we almost swerved off the road? Or this hotel?" I just gave Dipper a surprised, but slightly annoyed glance at him, rolling my eyes playfully.

"You want to talk about everything now? Well, you already know my clear opinion on us moving all the way out here in the middle of nowhere land. And god Dipper, don't remind me of that… I nearly had a heart attack today. No, genius, I was talking about the hotel here." I said, gently sticking out my tongue at him. I know, that may seem a bit childish to you. But it's a habit I have when I want to annoy Dipper, but letting him know I'm not really saying those things. It was just our little funny quirks.

"Well, it's definitely no hotel we've ever been to like in California... " Dipper said, shaking his head slightly as he looked it over. "But it could be worse, right?"

"It definitely could be, couldn't it?" I agreed, letting out a tiny sigh. "God, this is the kinds of hotels we try to when we go to San Diego... " I said, eyes narrowing as I scoped out the decor - barely nothing. Plain. "I just hope it's not crawling with bed bugs, that's all."

"Don't even say that, Amber." Dipper said as he shuddered. I didn't blame him, after all that happened with one incident we had together… it took us forever to get rid of those kind of nightmares.

"Dipper! Amber! C'mon, we're going up to the room!" Dad called, and I turned to look over at him. "Time to see what it's like."

Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as I thought it could have been. It was about… low, maybe moderate rooms as the guidebooks I read every year tells me about. Beds weren't falling apart, and they had a television. Not the worst you could do in a ma and pa hotel. Even the bathroom wasn't that bad, I investigated while relieving myself.

"I call this bed!" I said, as I jumped onto one of the beds, the one right by the windows and TV. After all, it had the best view. Not to mention a view of the tree line on the sides of the rode.

'You'll have to share that bed with your brother," Dad said, as he laid his own suitcase on the floor, a smirk lighting up his face as he sat on the other bed.

"Aww… I call the side by the window!" I say, as I gave a successful grin in the direction of Dipper. If I had to choose, I might as well have the light from the window to read, even if I hadn't felt like it then - I was literally exhausted from what, I had no idea. Sitting in the car wasn't exactly what someone would call a workout. Maybe I was just exhausted from the panic attack I had - that was most likely it.

"Fine," I heard Dipper groan, before climbing onto the bed next to me. It was a big enough bed without making it awkward - that was something that I could be grateful about.. Quickly, Dad flicked the light off.

"Now you guys get to sleep soon - after all, we have you-know-what coming up tomorrow!"

"Dad," I groaned, as I pulled out my book - Fablehaven, one of my personal favourites. "Don't remind me of that yet. I am NOT prepared, I hope you know."

"I know!" Dad said in his bright cheerful voice, and I simply groaned again and pulled the pillow over my head. Sometimes, dad could be a real pain in the butt. Even at the most serious of times. I both had loved him and hated him for that. "Night Pinetree, Night Bright Moon."

"Night," I mumbled, acknowledging the old nicknames Dad had give to us when we were younger, before squirming as I picked the pillow up from off my face and slowly rest my head on it, turning away from Dipper so I could face the small beam of light streaming out of the window - perfect.

As a similar night sounds from my brothers, I immediately open up the pages again, a small smile creeping up on my face. It was almost to the point where Seth was going to go meet the witch - finally. This was where things picked up again!

But soon, I realized that I just couldn't do it - I had barely gotten through one page, and my mind was already wandering. To things that I just wanted to cram into the back of my mind - moving, my friends, and finally, the car incident earlier.. And that made me think of my parents. Not my dad, but my real parents. Something that I hadn't thought of in months.

I closed my eyes, trying to block it out. But apparently my subconscious wasn't going to pull those thoughts back out of my mind. I breathed out through my nose, irritated. I had known them - more than Dipper knew his own, anyway. I had been ripped away from my parents while I was only on the precipice of knowing them. And I had not other relatives to go to apparently - my grandparents were dead, and my aunts and uncle, for whatever reason, couldn't raise me at the time. So, I got booted to the closest orphanage - and most of my parent's belongings were sold. There was such a limit to what I could keep, it frustrated me to no end - everything would have been fine if only for that hit and run. That stupid incident. Lately, I never really thought of them - I had my own family again now.

But right now, the thoughts… the images kept flashing in my mind, and slowly, a headache started to slowly build. It always happened when I tried to remember what happened on that day. Everytime. They said my mind tries to block what I saw, what happened. But why? I barely have memories of my parents, and it would have been nice at least to know the last day I spent with them. I have photos of them and me, and they help make it a bit clearer, but not what I would like. More memories would have been so, so much better.

I slam my book shut, frustration pouring through me. I shouldn't even be thinking about this - Dad was well, a great dad. For the most part. A pit in my stomach twists at that, and I close my eyes, leaning my head back on the pillow as I let my book drop to the floor beside me.

I heard a shuffling in the bed, and turned my head to see Dipper facing me, a worried expression set on his face again. I figured I woke him up when I dropped the book on the ground. "You okay, sis?" He whispered, black eyes shining with worry.

"Yeah," I whispered back, trying to give my best smile - but slowly it faded a bit. "Just thinking bout' stuff - such as us moving, our friends, and…." My voice drifted off from a whisper to complete silence as I fidgeted a bit.

"And?" Dipper prompted, raising one of his eyebrows slightly.

"You know… my… parents," I said, before closing my eyes tightly so I wouldn't see Dipper's reaction. "I know - I know, it's stupid… but after what happened today…"

"I know how you feel," I slowly open my eyes up to see Dipper looking away awkwardly. "I mean, I don't even honestly know what happened to my parents an-"

"Okay, sibling talk is over," I say, as I stick out my tongue and 'boop' Dipper on his nose before giving him a bright but fake smile. "Thanks, 'Pinetree', but maybe sleep is the best cure for this. If I'm still thinking about them in the morning, then we'll talk.. alright?."

For a moment, Dipper seems to hesitate. "Alright, 'Bright Moon', whatever you say. He says, giving me one more smile, before turning over to face the stand. I did the same with the window.

While it might not have worked totally… I did have to admit I did feel a bit better to know I had a brother like Dipper.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Dipper POV**

"C'mon you two! Wake up!" I groaned as I woke up, pulling the covers over my head tightly, trying to block out the light streaming onto the bed. For a moment, I don't know where I am. "Dad, it's summer… we don't have to get up."

"Yeah, we do. We have to get out by nine." A voice said dryly, and opened one eye as I got poked by Amber. Blinking, I slowly lifted the covers from above my head - and remembered where we were. Moving. In a motel.

"I forgot," I mumbled tiredly, rubbing my eyes a bit before sitting up and frowning. "Hey, where's my book?"

"I have it," Amber said in an off-key sing-song voice, before giving him a grin. "I got up an extra thirty minutes earlier - not my choice, by the way," Her gaze wandered over to Dad, the smile that was on her face gone..

"Not my fault, sweet-pea," Dad replied, a smirk adorning his face as he put his hands up in defense.

"You were singing in the shower on a Saturday morning, Dad." Amber said flatly, before looking over at me. "I'm just wondering how in the world you managed to sleep through all the racket."

"Racket? You insult me! It was a masterpiece!" Dad said as he winked towards us before heading into our room's small bathroom.

I had to hide my smile from behind my hand at my sister and dad's antics. "Heavy sleeper?"

"Well, lucky for you," Amber said, before lighting tossing the book on my side of the bed. "C'mon, Dad said we're leaving in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?" I said, raising one eyebrow as I propped myself up with one elbow. "Seriously, that's all?"

"Dad said cause' you slept in," Amber replied, as she herself got out of bed. "Shh! Now face the door and don't you dare look.."

I rolled my eyes slightly at her. "You know I'd never do that…" I muttered underneath my breath as I turned around, now facing the door of the room, before snatching up my green cap and putting it on my head.

Today was going to be a long, long day. I could just see that now. Amber was still not in a good mood - probably not a good sign for the rest of the day.

* * *

"So, kids, what do you want to put in the player today?" Dad asked us both, and we both brightened up immediately.

"BABBA!" "Wicked!" We both chimed in at the same time, before giving each other glances. As much as people thought we were like, me and Amber are actually two very different people. Sure, we both were into books - that's what most people talked about when they noted what was the same about us - but when you looked underneath the skin, you could see that we had different layers making us very different.

"Well, you both said it at the same time, so I'll just put i-"

"NO!" I said, eyes widening in horror. Dad's taste of music was not one of our favorites. Oldies all around - and most by unknown artists. The Beatles, I could take. Queen, Amber could take. But the rest of them all? That was one layer we both fell into.

"Are you sure? I mean I can just pop in this CD in here an-"

"We'll play rock, paper, scissors, right?" Amber said, giving a forced grin at Dad. I could tell that she was getting desperate - she hated rock paper scissors.

"Yeah!" I said, holding my own fist out.

"If you guys are sure - I"ll wait on your decision." Dad said, laughing at our antics before putting his attention back on the road.

"Okay…' Amber muttered, before holding her own first out to mine.

"Rock, paper, scissors.. shoot!"

A resounding groan came from Amber as I put my rock over her scissors. "I win!"

"This time, bro… this time…" Amber muttered as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't be a sore loser," I say, winking at her.

"Y'know you're becoming more like Dad every day of the week." Amber said, rolling her eyes, but with a hint of a smile.

"Well, then let's put it in - even though I'm with Amber on this group." Dad muttered, as he fingered the disc before sliding it into the player. Soon, the music started blaring out of the speakers.

"Disco girl, comin' through, that girl is you…"

"You do know what you sound like right now…. right?" Amber stated in a teasing voice as she raised an eyebrow and I felt myself blush as I realized I had started to sing a long.

"Dad, can you start the song over? Since someone interrupted it." I said, and grinned at the now horrified look upon my sister's face.

"Oh god…" Amber stated as she hid her face behind her book

"Amber, please don't do it again - we don't want to go through the same song a hundred times like last time right?" Dad said, winking in the mirror.

"Don't remind me.."

I smiled as the song starts playing again - it definitely wasn't as bad as Amber had originally thought.

* * *

My hopes had lessened as time had went on. Even listening to BABBA wasn't helping much right then. So far, there had been no sign of Gravity Falls for miles. We had passed a few other small towns along the road, but Dad had passed right by them without a mere second glance.

"Dad?" Amber's voice piped up again as she put her book down. So far, she had handled well to tune out BABBA as far as I could see. "Are we… lost or something?"

"Not at all!" Dad said, as he turned off the radio. "We're actually only a few miles away! I'm going to point out some landmarks I know."

"There are actual landmarks here?" I said, unconvinced as I looked at the vast expanse of trees around us. I was pretty sure that landmarks meant something that ended up on the map - in short, not Gravity Falls. Me and Amber had scoured map after map - most didn't even have the small town listed.

"Well, maybe they haven't been marked on a map or anything, but they're definitely important to me." Dad said, shrugging as his eyes scanned the pine trees.

"Oh! So places you've been growing up!" Well, I could have face-palmed myself right then. Of course, since this was where Dad grew up, this was all landmarks of importance to him. "Do you think the shops that you went to are still here?"

"Jeez, Pine Tree, you insult me." One hand on the steering wheel, one hand over his heart. "I only left Gravity Falls shortly before I adopted the two of you."

"... Uh, Dad, was there a 'Tent of Telepathy' when you grew up here?" Amber said, as she frowned at an upcoming billboard, lonely in the middle of the wilderness.

"'Tent of Telepathy'. Jeez, that sounds like a tourist trap. No, we never had anything 'round here like that." Dad said, eyes carefully glancing at it as he peered at the lonely sign on the road.

"So you don't think it's real?" I said, peering at the sign - it had a picture of a little kid… with the name Lil' Gideon's Tent of Telepathy.

"Pfft- there are all sort of myths of the supernatural surrounding. It's amazing how dumb people can be with stuff like this. I say don't waste your money on it you two. I'd bet my own eyeballs that there is nothing like the tourist traps claim - but that doesn't mean there isn't anything weird around here." Another wink came passing my way.

"First of all, eww. Thanks for that picture in my mind, Dad. Second of all, it does sounds kind of interesting. I might just check it out - it might be something like out of one of our books, Dipper!" Amber said, her eyes sparkling with actual excitement - something I never thought I'd see her do when talking about Gravity Falls - before she gently poked me. "Even if it's a fake, it'd be fun to check out what people can come up with for money. Thought… what do you mean there is something weird going on here?"

"Your loss, not mine." Dad said, rolling his eyes slightly in exasperation, before for a moment, his eyes widened. "Well, when I lived here, there were rumors and stuff - but I'll save that story for some other time." Gaze wondering, Dad's eye widened and a grin appeared on his face. "Oh hey - we're coming upon a diner, a favorite of mine here - Greasy's Diner! Looks like a log and everything! Fun right?"

"... Is the food there greasy too?" I say, raising one eyebrow in disgust at the thought of more greasy food. There were many greasy restaurants that we had been into California, some even so bad that I was sick for a whole week.

"Nope, thank goodness. Only the owner is greasy." Dad said, a snicker escaping him as we drove down the road. Finally, some cars were passing us, houses, and people. A bit of civilization surrounded by a bunch load of trees. I didn't know whether to be happy that we finally got here or horrible at the aspect of finally getting to the place where we were going to live like Amber was.

"So, uh, where's our new house?' Amber said, her eyes scanning the houses we were passing by with apprehension.

"Down this road a bit - we're a little past the main part of town." Dad informed us as we slowly went along the road. "I just want to see what might have changed since we left."

I tried scanning the people that was passed by, but it was mostly a blur - I just couldn't make anyone out. I was pretty sure there were a few people that looked our age in the crowd, but I couldn't be sure. It was hard to take in everything that there was to see around here.

"Do you think the moving truck would be there yet?" Amber asked, curiosity peaking in her voice.

"Probably, if they took the highway," I say, as we soon leave the downtown area, before soon something catches my eye. "Hey, look at that!"

Well, that was definitely one of the weirder buildings I had ever seen. Believe it or not, before that moment, I had never seen an actual building built out of logs. But apparently, that's what this building was made of. A sign - a huge sign that is - adjourned the place. I was pretty sure that it was supposed to say Mystery Shack - but the S on the sign was hanging down by it's end, almost like it was ready to fall off the one hinge it had left.

"The Mystery Shack;" Amber read, tilting her head to one side. "Another place on my list to visit, I guess" Amber said carefully looking it over.

"Don't bother," For a moment, the two of us froze as we looked over at our Dad. He sounded… off somehow. As if something was bothering him. "That 'shack' is run by a con-man through and through - you won't find anything in there of any worth."

"Oh, okay." Amber said in a small voice, and I gave her a look of confusion which she shared with me. What could make Dad so bothered about one simple tourist trap? Usually, when he told us not to go somewhere, he made it some kind of joke. But this time… he didn't. He simply stated not to go there. Almost like some kind of order.

For a few minutes, we all sat in silence as our car rumbled down the road. It was uncomfortable- all I had to do was to look out the window. Amber had been lucky - she had pulled a book out of the trunk to read. But even now, she was only flipping a page back and forth halfheartedly.

The silence between us wasn't broken until Dad cheerfully called out, "We're here!"

What I saw when I stuck my head out of the window made me want to either turn the car right back around or demand to know if that was really our house.

The house in front of us looked like it came right out of a haunted house - scratch that, more like a haunted house without most of the spookiness. It was a grand mansion - a little beaten, but still remaining grand the whole time. It was a total grand of three - maybe four, I wasn't sure as the windows stretched and stretched - stories high. It towered over our car - it even towered by the moving truck next to it.

It was nothing like I imagined our house to be - I thought it would be one of those more 'normal' ones by downtown. But this was different - this was huge for our little family. It made me feel small, a bit insignificant.

"This… house is… awesome!" I heard Amber say, her voice filled with awe.

"Isn't it?" Dad said, a hint of his proud nature entering his voice. "This is the house I grew up in."

"This is the house you grew up in?" I said in disbelief. This house looked like it must belong to a millionaire. I hadn't exactly pictured Dad and his parents as millionaires. Not at all. But it must be - the only reason we had got this house was because of a business opportunity that Dad had gotten in the area of Gravity Falls, so he thought - 'why not move back to my old hometown?' And that's exactly what my Dad did - moved us all here.

"Yep, grew up in the room on the third floor - I'll show you where it is, after all, that's where I'm now going to sleep also." Dad said, winking at us. "There are plenty of rooms for you two to choose from, so I expect you not to fight over a room."

"I think we'd have trouble choosing one room," Amber murmured in the same awed voice, with which I had to agree.

"Well, before you guys run off into the house, let's just put all of our boxes into the main hallway of the house - we can unpack all of our stuff later. Lets just not keep those poor moving men waiting any longer - Hey, we're here!" Dad called out towards the men standing around the truck., and opened the car door and jumped out, beginning to head towards them.

"... This might be better than I originally thought it'd be!" Amber said, as she unbuckled her seat belt, grasping for the door already. "Just look at this house! And all the mystery businesses around here! I haven't seen the Tent of Telepathy yet, but I'm going to go ahead and bet it's a twice as good as the Mystery Shack looked!" The weariness of moving had seemingly jumped right out of her.

"You thought the Mystery Shack looked fine?" I said,, raising my eyebrow as I copied her movements, and let myself out.

"Well, yeah! It looked interesting. More anything than anything we ever got back home. Even though Dad seemed to dislike it for some reason or another…" Amber said,, pausing a bit to think over that last bit.

"You're not planning on going there, are you?"

"Of course not! That'd be dumb. We don't want another angry Dad situation again, do we?" Amber said, giving me a pointed look - one of those 'let's talk later'.

A shudder ran through my body. When Dad got angry… he got angry. "No, no we don't." I agree, as I nodded my head though a look of confusion overcame my face at her look. What did she want to talk about?

"I'm going to go visit that Tent of Telepathy - after all, it couldn't be that far from here. Whenever we happen to find our bicycles, I'm going to go take it 'Downtown' to see what other shops are around there. If we find them tomorrow, you going to come with me?" Amber said, a hopeful octave rising to her voice.

It was hard to turn down a face like that - even though I didn't particularly want to go into town. After all, it had been a long car ride, and Dad would probably make us unpack everything tomorrow. "Fine, but I'm not making any promises - after all, I want to explore this house too."

"That'd be fun." Amber admitted, looking it over once more. "I still can't believe this is our house." Slowly, a mischievous grin overtook her. "So, which rooms do you think we'd get?"

"Maybe-"

"Dipper! Amber! C'mon! Help your old man carry some of these boxes!" Dad calls across the yard to us, interrupting me.

"You're not old!" Amber called back, before looking back at me, a glint in her eyes. "Ah well, let's get going! Then we can explore."

"Okay," I said, giving her a grin before heading over to Dad.

Things were getting better by the minute. If only that lasted, though.


End file.
